Three weeks of grind-it-out golf enables Quincy’s St. Clair to qualify for Gateway PGA Section junior tour championship

QUINCY — The position Hunter St. Clair found himself in following his first event on the Gateway PGA Section Junior Tour didn’t suggest he’d be in the mix for the tour championship.

The Quincy High School sophomore golfer emerged from an 18-hole event at Spencer T. Olin Golf Course in Alton on July 7 with just 1.67 points after tying for ninth.

“I didn’t have any status,” St. Clair said.

That changed over the course of three weeks.

St. Clair shot a 79 to win the boys 14-15 division event at Quincy Country Club in July 11. He tied for sixth at Gateway National Golf Links in Madison, Ill., then posted back-to-back second place finishes at Whitmoor Country Club in Weldon Spring, Mo., and Old Hickory Golf Club in St. Peters, Mo.

He went from no status to 12th in the Junior Tour Player of the Year rankings with 72.17 points and earned a spot in the tour championship, taking place this week at Winghaven Country Club in O’Fallon, Mo.

“It was the ability to grind it out,” St. Clair said. “I didn’t have very many events where I had my swing exactly where I wanted it to be, but I had enough grit to put your head down and keep working. I knew I had done the work back home.

“I played with a little bit of confidence and a chip on my shoulder and gave it all I had. I figured I’d see where it would put me.”

It’s the perfect springboard with qualifying for the QHS varsity team beginning next Monday.

“If you can compete with the kids down here, it definitely puts you in a good spot going anywhere,” St. Clair said. “We came down here to get me ready to face the kids up in Chicago at Class 3A level. I feel like going into the season I’m pretty ready for that. Time will tell obviously, but I feel like I’m ready for that.”

His confidence has grown immeasurable because of the fields he has faced.

“It’s a tougher level,” St. Clair said. “The kids down here take it to another level. The courses down here are a lot harder. The competition is a lot tougher. To be able to creep in there being from Quincy is definitely pretty cool.”

Winghaven will challenge him and the entire field this week.

“It’s a pretty gettable course,” St. Clair said. “If you don’t have your best stuff, there’s a chance the course will get you. The greens are pretty solid. They’re going to hold the line pretty well. The tee shots are pretty open. You can attack it off the tee and make some putts on these greens. It’s definitely a scoreable golf course.”

It has him thinking of winning.

“I don’t play anything I don’t think I can win,” St. Clair said. “The goal is to go out there and put a number up and not shoot yourself out of it in the first round. The goal is to put myself in a spot where I can attack come the second round. The goal is definitely to win.”

Canton’s Trevor Biggerstaff in the boys 16-18 division and Palmyra’s Skeeter Kroeger in the boys 14-15 division are also in the tour championship field.